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Title: Green Tea Leaves
Location: BOH's Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 9:36am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5,6, ISO Equiv.: 100
A personal detour to discover the estate UP, CLOSE AND PERSONAL. The matured green tea leaf that I'm holding is half the size of my palm. I yanked off some tea leaves, chewed it and it taste like any other ordinary green leaves...lol :) I was expecting a mixture of bitter and 'longkang' taste.
Title: Angel's Trumpets
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 8:59am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/6.3, ISO Equiv.: 100
A pair of angel's trumpet. According to Wikipedia "All parts of the plants contain dangerous levels of poison and may be fatal if ingested by humans or animals, including livestock and pets. Contact with the eyes can cause pupil dilation (mydriasis) or unequal pupil size (anisocoria)." That's really frightening and unexpected from such a beautiful coloured flowers!
Title: Now OPENED
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 5:08pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/6.3, ISO Equiv.: 100
A close-up shot on this wonderful flower. It's BIG - nearly the size of my face. I've only seen these flowers in CH.
Title: Two Blooms & Two Dooms
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 5:07pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5.6, ISO Equiv.: 100
These flowers were still blooming late in the afternoon. I guess the cold and windy weather in CH enable these flowers to bloom all day long.
Title: 13 Petals
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 9:00am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5.6, ISO Equiv.: 100
Every single flower of this plant is different - just like human fingerprints.
Title: Purple Bloom
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 5:09pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/6.3, ISO Equiv.: 100
These purplish flowers are aplenty at the BOH's garden. The small garden is located next to the public toilet.
Title: A Hard Day's Work
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 4:23pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/7.1, ISO Equiv.: 100
I stumbled upon these two Bangladeshi workers on my way up to the viewpoint. It was already 4pm in the afternoon. The pile of green leaves were harvested earlier the day and these two workers were packing them into the gunny sack. Being an estate worker is no easy task. Even our local Indians are shunning the job. You'll never feel the heat from the morning and afternoon Sun due to the windy and relatively cool surrounding. I've spent nearly four hours walking all over BOH's plantation in Sg. Palas last year. Felt nothing, not even sweat. But, two days later, my skin started to peeled off and signs of sunburn was visible. It's definitely a TOUGH JOB!
Title: The Fertile Land
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 10:27am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/8.0, ISO Equiv.: 100
Different shades of green is visible in the estate. Younger tea plants has light green colour while matured green leaves has a dark green colouration. I wanna roll down the green slopes just like those Indian actors.
Title: Green Tea Mountain
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 10:51am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5.6, ISO Equiv.: 100
You can explore the entire estate including walking up to the green tea hill. I parked my car at the guardhouse and walked for a good few kilometres. It was a refreshing walk with endless view of greens. There's something interesting here and there - never a boring walk.
Title: The Worker's House
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 4:49pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5.6, ISO Equiv.: 140
A signature green wooden house for the workers. Estate managers and high ranking officials have better residential buildings including bungalows!
Title: Worker's Transportation
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 4:23pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5.6, ISO Equiv.: 110
Most local estate workers (normally Indians) own a motorbike. Bangladeshi workers normally walk to the estate or rely on the company's truck to travel from one place to another.
Title: 360° Viewpoint, Here I Come!
Location: 360° Viewpoint @ BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 9:05am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/7.1, ISO Equiv.: 100
Reaching the peak of the 360° Viewpoint. There is a piece of long thick metal wire (coated with plastic) for better grip.
Title: Endless Horizon
Location: 360° Viewpoint @ BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 5:38pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5.6, ISO Equiv.: 100
Enjoying the limitless scenery at the peak of the viewpoint. Few words to describe that moment - WINDY, RELAX, COOL, AMAZING, NICE.
Title: That's ME :)
Location: 360° Viewpoint @ BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 5:32pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/9.0, ISO Equiv.: 100
Should I call it a neck bottom shot? I was lying down on the grassy field enjoying the evening sky and strong winds.
Title: The Spectacular View From the PEAK
Location: 360° Viewpoint @ BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 5:24pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/8.0, ISO Equiv.: 100
Sigh, it was getting dark. Unable to capture a decent picture. Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed those moments at the peak.
Title: A handful of beans
Location: 360° Viewpoint @ BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 9:21am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/6.3, ISO Equiv.: 100
After reaching the 360° Viewpoint in the BOH's estate, I saw a hidden narrow lane. I walked through the pathway only to see another landscape full of green tea. Along the way, I chanced upon these wild beans. I broke one of them into half and it smell and look like any other green beans in the market. I should have bagged some of them as green souvenir.
Title: Mr. BOH - The Mascot
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 21 May 2009, 5:03pm
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/7.1, ISO Equiv.: 100
According to BOH's official website "The smiling, bow-tied animated character made a positive and lasting impact on the Company’s consumers." By the way, you can visit the estate and 360° Viewpoint anytime. The opening and closing hours are only applicable for the factory, tea house and souvenir shop. The tea estate is opened to public all year long - anytime, anyday. You just need to ask permission from the Nepalese/Bangladeshi guards.
Title: Bird's Eye View
Location: 360° Viewpoint @ BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 9:15am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/5.6, ISO Equiv.: 140
This photo was taken when I was descending the 360° Viewpoint. This building encompassed a factory, administrative department, tea house and souvenir shop.
Title: The BOH's factory
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 10:06am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/7.1 ISO Equiv.: 100
Strange looking building. This BOH factory in Habu has lots of zinc sheets as outer covering. I wonder what'll happpened when the lightning strucked.
Title: BOH's Processing Plant
Location: BOH'S Tea Estate, Habu, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Date: 23 May 2009, 10:01am
Camera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/3.8, ISO Equiv.: 640
I've visited BOH's processing plant in Sg. Palas. This plant in Habu is a bit rundown. There is a very strong smell of petrol and green tea leaves in the inner factory. The petrol is needed to generate the machines and the rollers were grinding the leaves into pieces circulating those wonderful smell of authentic BOH's leaves. It's the UMMPH signature smell :)
After visiting Honey Bee Farm, I drove my car for another 1km to BOH’s tea estate in Habu, Cameron Highlands. Gosh, the road leading to the estate has not been tarred for ages – it was a bumpy ride full of sharp stones here and there. Last year, I went to the BOH plantation and visitor centre in Sungai Palas. This time, I wanna explore BOH’s estate in Habu. I parked my car at the entrance (near the guardhouse) and walked for 1km to the top of the estate. It was already 4.20pm in the afternoon – no point driving right up to the estate because the factory and tea house will be closed in few minutes.
It was a nice walk to the top of the estate. On my way up, I stumbled upon some workers and managed to persuade them to pose for my pictures.
Something else caught my attention that afternoon. I saw a signboard about a 360° viewpoint at the peak of the estate. Hmmm…that’s interesting. So, I climbed the concrete pathway to find out the view from there. WOW! The view at 360° viewpoint is SUPERB and HEAVEN!!! I can see the entire BOH’s estate at the peak. Strong wind was blowing all over me. I even climbed up a bench and spread my hands wide (like Jack & Rose in the movie Titanic) to ‘capture’ the strong wind. It was very windy up there. I wish I can stay there forever!!!
I returned to BOH’s tea estate in Habu, Cameron Highlands on the third day to visit the tea factory.
Both Honey Bee Farm and BOH’s tea estate in Habu, Cameron Highlands are definitely two MUST-SEE attractions. Interestingly, very few visitors venture to Habu due to the distance from Tanah Rata and Brinchang and also lack of publicity. If you like to know more about the exact location of Habu, you can download the full map of Cameron Highlands listed below.
Sorry guys, Post 2 is the longest by far. I try to avoid publishing too many posts.
COMING SOON!! Conquering Gunung Brinchang [6,666ft] + UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL with orang asli.
Last updated October 29th, 2010 (1:55 p.m.)
Day 1 Expenses (My Budget Travel):
a) Petrol = RM30
b) Breakfast at Rawang R&R – Nasi Lemak Bungkus & Hot Milo = RM2.20
c) PLUS - North South Expressway payment = RM17.90
d) 2D 1N stay at Kang Travelers Hotel = RM60
e) Lunch at Restoran Sri Brinchang (Maggi Goreng) = RM4, The BEST Maggi Goreng is here!!
f) Dinner at ‘Hong Kong’ Restaurant (Curry Fish Head) + Coca-Cola = RM19
Total expenses on Day 1 = RM133.10
Cameron Highlands – Getting There:
Please click this link for more info:
More info?
Read these articles before you travel:
Cameron Highlands – Map
Download FULL PDF MAP listing all places of interests including these townships: Ringlet, Habu, Tanah Rata and Brinchang. [PDF File, 902kb]
Destination [1] Highlands Bee Farm and [2] BOH's Tea Estate in Habu, Cameron Highlands
YouTube Video - 360° Viewpoint:
gosh, i'm impress with you blog and your photo too.
be my sifu!
hahaha
keep on the good work =)
i wish i was there with you...sigh... >.< nice pictures as always...love the picture with the workers there... and the tea estate XD it must be an relaxing day there ya... wanna go back again next weekend?? hahahhahhaa.... if you are free =p
bro ,good picture but your blog took me almost 10 minutes to upload , maybe need some tweaking or need to limit on the number of picture per posting.i had been to the BOH plantation before and i had pick one plastic full of tea lea leaves to try to process it myself.I had leave the tea leaves inside my oven with the temperature set to 45'c to dry up the leaves.The result is a tea as good as the original boh.
The pancake strawberries look interesting. You should capture the picture from the another angle so it's more obvious how flat it is.
By the way, I like the portraits that you took. How did you make those workers pose for you?
@kok leong,
Gee, thanks! I'm no sifu or master. Honestly, I'm still learning new stuff every single day. NOVICE is a better word to describe my blog :)
@fufu,
Thank you for dropping by again! About the pictures, I snapped LOTS OF THEM. So, not all pictures are good. I selected some decent ones to be updated in my blog.
I LOVE your Penang series. fufu = always a great traveler. You traveled to lots of places in Penang!
Cameron Highlands is a great place to RELAX and escape from the city madness. The moment I returned back to KL, I get NUTS with the traffic, pollution, drivers and blah....blah...blah :(
Next weekend? fufu, I'm exploring Perak!!!! I just really some day we can meet to share our wonderful moments about our trip.
@xplorer,
No need to call me bro :) mylo will do! Thank you for the kind compliment. Yeah, I expected the loading time for this post to be 'ultra' slow. It's the longest post by far - with over 29 pictures or nealy 2.3MB. Already did some heavy editing excluding lots of pictures.
Oh my goodness, you really plucked one packet full of tea leaves?? Good to know that a typical oven set to 45°C is able to produce the BOH's signature UUMPH! Got to try it next time.
@Shelyn,
About the pancake strawberry, I only noticed that after going through some similar photos. It's strange...even young capsicum has a deflated physical feature. It will grow to a near oval shape when it's time to mature.
Shelyn, thank you again for your kind compliments! I asked them politely "En. boleh saya 'tangkap' gambar?" They'll normally say OK. Speak in BM.
Cheers people,
mylo
perak where?? i never explore perak though!!! what a shame as i am a perak boy >.< tell me where you go...and i tumpang your car! will be going back to kl tomorrow though...will be already departed?
@fufu,
I'm still here in KL. Still gathering reading some blog posts and travel guide about interesting place to cover. Well, It's gonna be a tri-state visit (Perak, Kelantan and Terengganu).
Darn! I supposed to start my journey on this Sunday or Monday. But, my company just called asking me to return on 3rd June (Wednesday). Well, I guess I'll leaving to Perak first by next Thursday.
fufu, when do you need to return to Singapore again?
I know you are a Perakian :)
Nice pictures